


Wings of rumors (FFXIVWrite2020 Day 16 - Lucubration)

by Ivelia



Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [16]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, Patch 5.3: Reflections in Crystal Spoilers, Tumblr: FFXIVwrite2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:01:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26503315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivelia/pseuds/Ivelia
Summary: Part of my attempt for #FFXIVWrite2020 - September 16 (Day 16 - Lucubration)Rumors are a monster on their own.Spoilers for Patch 5.3, somewhat linked to my Day 11 entry (not necessary to read it though I think?
Series: FFXIV Write 2020 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1906951
Kudos: 1





	Wings of rumors (FFXIVWrite2020 Day 16 - Lucubration)

“And done!” With a flourish, apprentice reporter Laicie Wynter added the final dot to her article, and looked at the clock.  _ Still on time _ . She repressed a yawn as she carefully bundled the pages together. If she rushed to the office, she might still make it to send this in for the first press. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, the hunger, the adrenaline from making it right on time, or a combination of all of the above, but she felt strangely giddy; she was but a small time journalist, but with this exclusive interview she had just finished reworking by sacrificing her youth and beauty sleep, it would be only a matter of time before she became a household name among all Eorzean reporters, just like Kipih Jakkya of the Raven, or even Dural Tharal here at the Mythril Eye.

She thought back of the client that was the root of this magnificent opportunity, and blessed the Twelve again; she had been really lucky to meet him and his companions in the Hourglass tonight, drowning the bitterness of their latest defeat in the priciest alcohols the house had to offer, courtesy of Jujubeku Nenebeku’s -the offensive mage and leader of their party- deep pockets that were typical of rich, idle Ul’dahn heirs. 

She had heard from her more experienced colleagues that hanging out in bars could sometimes bring unexpected benefits, as alcohol made people speak more freely, but to think this was to this extent… She might adopt this as her main modus operandi in the future. Thanks to this trick, she was able to get a lot of colorful details on their adventure, although she still had to  _ redact  _ some of the most gorey parts of their failed hunt in Mor Dhona. To compensate, she added a bit of her own spin on the story, to make it interesting, also more inline with the newspaper style, since lots of Ul’dahn readers were interested in how the unfolding events could affect their money-making endeavours, such as geopolitical considerations, possible impacts on raw material production and supply chain, etc. Of course, it was a  _ wee _ bit exaggerated, but she did what she had to in order to make sure that her audience would be hooked. Her mentors were always talking about nice concepts like “the importance of truth” but… Truth only wouldn’t sell more units, or make her famous.

Moreover, her interviewee also offered a generous amount of coin so that she would be able to “convince” some of the newspaper’s workers that his story needed to be known to the world as soon as possible, his generous contribution allowing her to  _ bypass _ all most of the checks by those pesky, moldy old coots that usually vetoed her work. Of course, she could only reward his dedication to get the “truth” of their misadventures known by giving her all and writing a piece that would rock the world.

* * *

It was yet another idle afternoon in the Rising Stones. As it was slowly becoming usual for him, Alphinaud was reading the most current newspaper, a furrow in his brow. This was one of the many ways he used to get more information about the current state of the world, and getting another more mundane view of the current events; he wanted to see a different perspective on things that he couldn’t always get from official communications between city states, or Thancred and Riol’s intelligence reports, for example.

It was hard for his twin sister to see him sink into this old man routine… She might have tolerated it from G’Raha (after all, he was  _ somewhat _ of an actual old man) but for her own brother, to waste his youth like this... She started poking him:

\- “Oi! Stop pretending to be clever, and come trai~n” He tried to dodge her irritating finger, to no avail; there was only so much space to flee on his armchair “I can’t bring you to challenge the Boulders in siblings battle when you’re such a wimp, co~me on”. After a while of this treatment, he couldn’t take it anymore, and snapped back:

\- “I’m an academician, why should I have to do strength training?” Annoyed, and a wee bit vexed, he ended up throwing the pages of the journal he was reading at her “If you’re bored, you can read this rag, instead of disturbing me”. That fantasy drivel, surprising for a publication such as the Mythril eye, as it was closer to the rambling of drunkard than the usual serious reports of that news outlet, should be enough of a distraction to afford him a few minutes of respite. As she removed the pages from her face, she was about to literally make him eat them when the title caught her eyes, just as planned.

-“Wow, what? “ _ Dragoon menace in Mor Dhona _ ”? It says…” she started summarizing the article, which recounted how unfortunate adventurers had been chased by a ferocious herd of dragons in Mor Dhona, not far from here, only to be  _ coincidentally _ saved by a mysterious knight dragoon that came in to one sidedly massacre them; reportedly, the man was at least four malms tall, a mass of bloody armor that jumped so high it had wings, and killed a hundred of the scalekin in one blow “The descriptions in this paper are really graphic, though... I wonder how this passed censure” she mused. 

The paper then went on speculating on how the mysterious knight was probably an Ishgardian secret weapon, as a similar form had been sighted sometime ago in the final battle of the Dragonsong War at the Steps of Faith. The author went even further, explaining that since end of dragonsong ward, Ishgardians were getting closer to dragons, so this might be a ploy to justify their military intervention on foreign soil; they would send dragons to terrorize local population, then send dragoons to fix the situation; this would allow them to garner sympathy in a mostly lawless area in a bid to later expand their influence, or if things were to go bad, they could directly seize new territories using the combined strength of man and monsters. Alphinaud reacted to the increasingly flabbergasted face of his sister as she read the paper.

\- “Told you, this article was it was bullshit, that Jujubeku Nenebeku person was drunk-” He was interrupted by a strange sound that turned out to be the vaunted warrior of light choking on her own beverage in an uncharacteristically ungracious,  _ uncool  _ way. “... Are you alright?” She coughed for a bit to clear her airways, reassuring them between two hiccups:

\- “I’m alright..., Don’t worry about me, go on”. She could not however fool the red-haired Miqo’te sitting close next to her, who discreetly whispered

\- “You know something about this, don’t you…?” He knew she knew; after all, he was ultimately an historian, and her epics had been one of his main areas of study, so he had read a lot of materials on things she did, and even on things she had yet to do. Meanwhile, the Leveilleur siblings were still discussing the article:

\- “It can’t dragons and dragoons” Alphinaud voiced his thoughts aloud, “Aymeric made no mention of such a thing in his latest messages. This kind of content might be Garlean propaganda, used to instigate fear and dissent, among the Eorzean Alliance”... He was increasingly incensed “What were those Mythril Eye writers thinking? We don’t need this at such a dangerous juncture...”. They might be on the verge of restarting a war with Garlemald, depending on that person’s ambition, and it was hard enough to gather information to try and predict the flow of the situation, without having to deal with this. Turning to G’Raha Tia, he asked “Did something like that happen in your future”?

\- “I’m sorry I can’t help... The future changed too much already” He was feeling a warning glare from the Warrior of Light “Plus, it’s a bit hazy, because it’s been centuries for me”. An awkward silence filled the air.

\- “Maybe it’s Estinien?” offered Alisaie “Isn’t he kinda hunting dragons as a freelancer?”

\- “Nah” Alphinaud rejected the idea “If he came to Mor Dhona, he would have passed by to say hello” The Warrior of Light choked on her beverage again, raising eyebrows, prompting yet another discrete whisper after the twins returned to their conversation.

\- “...You should tell them.” They would be going in circles for days.

\- “Some things are better left unsaid” She sighed. She didn’t want her feats of arms to be known, fame did not sit well with her, after all. It was better if her feats of arms were attributed to someone else, as this reduced the chances of people coming to ask her for help for the most mundane things; though this time, it was so exaggerated it was kinda too much...

\- “It’s no wonder though, how in some stories, you were always described as some monstrous, otherworldly figure” he mused. “Ear to ear does deform a lot…”


End file.
